Nation 3. 10.13 - Stakeholder concerned with the environment and biodiversity conservation met on Tuesday to give their input so as to finalise a draft of the new National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.

The Minister for Environment and Energy Rolph Payet launched the day-long consultation which took place at the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA) training room.

Organised by the GOS-UNDP-GEF Programme Coordination Unit (PCU), the workshop brought together representatives of government departments, including the Ministry of Environment and Energy, representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other institutions.

International environmental governance and biodiversity specialist Jacques Prescott led the discussions. There were also presentations by international climate change specialist Peter Smith, and national environment experts Hervé Barois and Cliff Gonzalves.

The exercise to validate the draft document follows a workshop held in May this year that identified the key priority areas for actions to preserve the biodiversity of Seychelles. This important document updates the previous National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan adopted in 1998.

The drafting of the document has galvanised and brought together the Seychelles conservation community. Furthermore it has built a national stakeholder consensus on biodiversity status and trends, and identifies national priorities for action. The document is based on the Seychelles 2020 Sustainable Development Vision.

Addressing those present when launching the discussion Minister Payet said Seychelles’ leadership in biodiversity has been recognised by the International Convention on Biological Diversity,

noting that our protected areas are to be further strengthened with the adoption of our new protected areas policy.

“This new draft document has clear national priorities for biodiversity mainstream into other planning and development sectors such as tourism, finance, education and agriculture looking not only at curbing biodiversity loss but also coming up with innovative ways to have an integrated management and financing approach,” noted Minister Payet.

He said to ensure coordination and accountability, a specific implementation plan has been proposed to enable the day to day operations of the document to remain transparent.

With regard to financial resources having always been and remaining the greatest challenge in carrying out biodiversity projects, Minister Payet said consultants have proposed a number of mechanisms to sustain the implementation of the plan.